This subscription thing has become more trouble than its worth. I'm getting twenty or more emails a day asking me not to shut down the archives at the end of the month. And for some reason our circulation is growing like crazy. On the other hand I have a grand total of five checks pushpinned to my wall. Easier to send back the five checks and chalk the subscription thing up as a dog that wouldn't hunt. But I really like this Q&A format. Much less work for me. Please keep the questions coming. Now on to this week's question. It comes from Robert D. in Londonderry . This Weeks Question: How do I get the most out of University? The quick answer is by showing up. When I was teaching and my Partner Angela was teaching, it was surprising to us how many students just didn't bother to roll out of bed to make it to class. The not so quick answer has to do with having your head on straight about the conditions that exist in the real world of advertising today. |
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Advertising is in free-fall. Nothing you learn in any school will have anything to do with what you encounter in the real world. I visit at least 20 schools a year as a lecturer. The most comprehensive by far is the University of Illinois at Urbana. The first thing you have to do is get in a good school with a highly regarded advertising program. The portfolio schools are worthless. Most have no concept of the impact of new media on the landscape. If you're stuck in a school that sucks, make the best of it and finish. The point is that it does not matter what school you go to, you have to get a degree. Nobody will hire you without one. The following applies no matter where you go. Use your time at school to build a network of really smart friends who feel as strongly as you do about marketing. They will be invaluable once you get out. University is not about what you can learn. It's all about what you can use. Computer time, lab time, reference libraries, mainframe time. The infrastructure is invaluable. The next thing on your list should be the Alumnai. They are the real gold mine. Make the keeper of the list your new best friend. Track down every marketing major and MBA that graduated in the past ten years and make contact with them. That will be your employment network once you do your time. Next work the intern office. You want to do as many internships as possible. Go for the largest companies you can find. Do your homework. Intern at agencies and Fortune 1000 companies. Use the same strategy at these companies you use at school. Work the facilities and resources and work the smart guys. Always be building your database. If you don't have ten new names to add every day you're not doing your job. Last but not least are the Professors and Instructors. Find out which ones are published and which instructors work in the real world. If they don't do either, don't waste your time. Work every instructor or professor for at least Three professional referrals each semester. That is all they will be good for. Finally, don't think of yourself as a copywriter or media buyer or account planner candidate. That outdates you before you get started. These silos are breaking down all over our industry. Be a generalist. Go to the AdAge Power 150. There are at least 600 blogs on advertising and marketing listed there. Visit as many of them as you can and subscribe to the ones that make sense for you. Keep visiting us here at MadisonAveNew.com for the Post-Advertising Era perspective. Sign up at Steve Hall's excellent AdGabber.com to avail yourself of the Facebook of the advertising world. Advertising is a moving target. To succeed you have to keep up. Good luck.
Keep Thinking.
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